A year ago, we wrote about timber auctions in Bavaria, Germany where record prices were reached. “The Bride”, the most valuable oak log at the auction, rendered a price of 786 € (Euros) per cubic meter which was a record for that area at the time. Now, another German record has been broken. In Hessen this time.
Timber price record in Germany
For us, in Sweden, it’s a strange feeling to read about those fantasy prices for timber as we struggle with the lowest timber prices in Europe. Of course, we understand that we don’t have that kind of timber here, not much anyway, and we also don’t have that kind of auctions like the German ones. So, maybe there is no wonder that we are fascinated by the prices we hear about from our neighbor Germany.
The auction in Wettenberg, Hessen, Germany
We refer to the auction in Wettenberg in Hessen, Germany, approx. 60 kilometers north of Frankfurt a.M., on the 15th of December 2022. 494 cubic meters of oak stems from state-, municipal-, and private forests were offered at the auction. 26 bidders from Austria, France, the Netherlands, and Germany submitted bids.
Even though many of the offered stems had lower quality than the year before due to drought and heat damages, the prices were higher. The forest owners were (of course) very satisfied with the situation as they all are facing vast reforestation after years of bark-beetle and drought damage to their forests and need financing for that.
Photo: Felix Reinbold, Hessen-Forst.de
The prices
The average price for the oak logs in Wettenberg was 1.090 € per cubic meter*. That is to be compared with last year’s auction at the same place, 882 €. An increase of 24 percent.
The highest price at the auction was for a 3,49 cubic meter oak log that was purchased by a German veneer manufacturer for 2.769 € per cubic meter or a total of 9.664 €.
Well, those of us that don’t have that kind of trees can only dream about it and congratulate those who have.
*1 cubic meter = 35 cubic foot
1 Euro (€) = 1,09 USD or 0,87 GBP (23rd of January 2023)
Sources: HessenForst, Forstpraxis.de
